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Voter turnout in the EU parliamentary elections has steadily declined overall since 1979, with participation falling from just under 70 to 42 percent in 2014. Slovenia's turnout, however, is much lower-under a quarter of Slovenes voted in the election. Of those votes, the majority went to the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) at 24.8 percent.

While right-wing and center parties turned out for the last EU parliamentary elections, Slovenia's Yugoslav-nostalgic and eco-socialist left-wing has not. Coming in second at the 2014 elections were a conservative coalition between New Slovenia and the Slovenia People's Party, which won 16.5 percent of the vote. In third was the center-left party Verjamem (Believe) at 10.4 percent. 

Though many member states are dissatisfied with the restrictions of the EU, Slovenia doesn't suffer as much as the larger economies like Italy, France, and the departing United Kingdom. Still apathy, feelings of powerless, distance from the administration in Brussels, disinterest in the candidates, and Slovenia's relatively positive experience in the Union have all contributed to the low turnout in EU parliament elections. But with an increasingly divided Europe, and more at stake with a less stable EU, will Slovenians come out to vote this time around? 

While there are 751 members from the 28 member states, Slovenia has eight members in parliament to represent them. The relatively low member of Slovenian representatives correlates to a small influence on parliament as a whole and less opportunities for leadership. This year, the latter could change. 

Violeta Tomić from Levica (the Left) party, has been nominated by the European Left parliamentary coalition to be one of their two Spitzenkandidatens, or expected leaders if the party should take control of parliament. For the left-wing, it may be a reason to turn out-unlike 2014 when the left had very few votes. 

"On one hand, left and liberal voters were at the time indifferent to EU," said Nikola Jankovič Kolenc, Assistant of Public Relations for Levica. "They did not believe in possibility of change in either way, good or bad . . . All of the candidates were more or less the ones who people could perceive as "eurocrats."

Levica is a new path for far-left voters, and to a certain extent it has declining centrism to thank for its success. While the center of Slovenian politics may not be holding, this is not to suggest Levica's brand of leftism is universal in Slovenia. In fact, just the contrary. While the far-left has been underrepresented, far-right voters have been coming out to the polls. 

Last year the right-wing conservative SDS, led by former Prime Minister Janez Janša, won a majority in Slovenia's government with a message of preserving national security that garnered 24.92 percent of the vote. While the global media has characterized their platform of "keeping Slovenia safe" as anti-immigrant, it has still resonated with many Slovenians. SDS did not respond to requests for comment.
The center-left party List of Marjan Šarec came in second, receiving just 12.6 percent of the vote, but Šarec became the new Prime Minister. While just about 900,000 of the 1.7 million eligible citizens in Slovenia voted, the far-left constituents were not as motivated to cast their ballot as the others. 

With a disparity between right and left voters indicative of much of the European Union, it remains to be seen whether motivation to vote against Tomić and Levica is stronger than the motivation to vote for them. Still, as politics polarize, races get tighter. 

While the elections of 2014 were sometimes perceived as irrelevant to voters, much has changed in the European Union since then. The UK voted to leave, nationalism is on the rise, the right and left are moving farther away from each other, and other member states, Italy for example, have contemplated ending their membership with the Union as well. People across Europe want to change how the EU is structured, but there are fundamental disagreements about what should be changed and what should be preserved. 

Conservative voters, especially in the Schengen Area, typically advocate for more control of their borders, less taxes and market restrictions while leftists want to redistribute wealth within the Union, emphasize a radical environmental approach, and establish a trans-European welfare structure. Disagreements between the two extremes abound but voters come out when they believe in a message or cause, and divided political discourse leads to increasingly populist movements on the margins inspiring them. 

It is to be determined whether Slovenian voters will be enthusiastic enough to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Still there are signs that citizens are becoming conscious of their significance. Across Ljubljana, small blue stickers with the EU's characteristic circle of yellow stars have popped up on crosswalk buttons. "This time," they say, "I'm voting."

Ryan Beitler is a journalist, writer, and travel blogger. He has been published in Paste Magazine, The Slovenia Times, New Noise Magazine, OC Weekly, Deadline News, and numerous travel sites.